Red songs and the main melody
cultural nationalism and political propaganda in Chinese popular music
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v13.i2.127Keywords:
Chinese popular music, cultural nationalism, main melody, red songsAbstract
Red songs were revolutionary songs and propaganda songs. In recent years, the government has repackaged red songs as popular music and adapted popular music into red song repertoire simultaneously. The fusion between red songs and popular music makes young people’s ideological education more effective. The classification of red song repertoire and the identification of the main melody publicize what kind of (popular) cultural product the government welcomes for reward, benefit and profit. Highlighting the cultural context of nationalism can soften the coerciveness and aggressiveness of political propaganda. The popularity of red song TV singing contests and local singing activities demonstrates that politics and culture, propaganda and commerce, education and entertainment are all mixed together for the smooth operation of ideological control in today’s China. But to a certain extent, the commercialization of red songs into entertainment also corrupts the seriousness of political propaganda.
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Baranovitch, Nimrod. 2003. China’s New Voices: Popular Music, Ethnicity, Gender, and Politics, 1978–1997. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Callahan, William A. 2003. Diasporic Tycoons, Outlaw States, and Beijing Bastards: The Contingent Politics of Greater China, presented at Regional Governance: Greater China in the 21st Century, Asia-Link Conference, University of Durham, 24–25 October 2003.
Chen, Yuangen. 2009. ‘Ziyangshi Jingshenbin Yiyuan Juxing Jingshenbinren Chang Hongge Bisai’ (‘The Ziyang Mental Illness Hospital Organized a Singing Red Songs Contest for the Patients’). Ziyang Ribao (Ziyang Daily), 26 November.
Edgar, Andrew, and Peter Sedgwick. 1999. Cultural Theory: The Key Concepts. London and New York: Routledge.
Frith, Simon. 1988. Music for Pleasure: Essays in the Sociology of Pop. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Gellner, Ernest. 2006. Nations and Nationalism, 2nd edn. Oxford: Blackwell.
Gries, Peter Hays. 2004. China’s New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Guo, Yingjie. 2003. Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary China: The Search for National Identity Under Reform. London: Taylor & Francis.
Hu, Puzhong. 2002. ‘Zhuxuanlv Dianying Yu Shangye Pian De Hudong Jianbian Guilv’ (The Interactive Changing Rules between the Main Melody Films and Commercial Films). Guizhou Daxue Xuebao Yishu Ban (Journal of Guizhou University Art Edition) 16, no. 1 (March 2002): 33–37.
Jones, Andrew F. 1992. Like a Knife: Ideology and Genre in Chinese Popular Music. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University East Asian Program.
Kassabian, Anahid. 1999. ‘Popular’. In Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture, ed. Bruce Horner and Thomas Swiss, 113–23. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lee, Gregory B. 1996. Troubadours, Trumpeters, Troubled Makers: Lyricism, Nationalism, and Hybridity in China and its Others. London: Hurst & Company.
Lu, Tianming. 2010. ‘Zhongguo Wenyi Buneng Huibi Zhuxuanlv Huati’ (‘China’s Arts Cannot Avoid the Main Melody Issues’). Available online at http://book.sina.com.cn/news/c/2010-09-29/1354273959.shtml (accessed 7 October 2010).
Middleton, Richard. 1999. ‘Form’. In Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture, ed. Bruce Horner and Thomas Swiss, 141–55. Oxford: Blackwell.
Middleton, Richard, ed. 2000. Reading Pop: Approaches to Textual Analysis in Popular Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pei, Minxin. 2000. ‘Rights and Resistance: the Changing Contexts of the Dissident Movement’. In Chinese Society: Change, Conflict and Resistance, ed. Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden, 23–46. London and New York: Routledge.
Shepherd, John. 1999. ‘Text’. In Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture, ed. Bruce Horner and Thomas Swiss, 156–77. Oxford: Blackwell.
Stockman, Norman. 2000. Understanding Chinese Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Tu Wei-ming. 1994. ‘Cultural China: The Periphery as the Center’. In The Living Tree: The Changing Meaning of Being Chinese Today, ed. Tu Weiming, 1–34. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Waldman, Tom. 2003. We All Want to Change the World: Rock and Politics from Elvis to Eminem. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing.
Wu, Pianpian. 2009. ‘Ertong Chang Hongge, Rap Man Yao Dou Bu Que’ (‘Children Sing Red Songs, Rap and Rock are Included’). Huaxi Dushi Bao (Western China City Daily), 29 July.
Wu, Songjin, ed. 2009. Zhongguo Hongge Hui—Hongge Jingdian 600 Shou (The Collection of Chinese Red Songs—600 Classics). Shanghai Jiaoyu Chubanshe (Shanghai Education Publishing).
Xia, Weifan and Dai, Lang. 2009. ‘Zhongguo Diyi Zhang Ertong Hongge Zhuanji Niannei Zai Rong Dansheng’ (China’s First Children Red Songs Album Will be Produced in Chengdu This Year). http://scnews.newssc.org/system/2009/07/28/012204626.shtml (accessed 2 September 2010).
Yang, Changzheng, ed. 2003. Zhongguo Qingshaonian Liuxing Wenhua Xianxiang Baogao (Reports on Popular Cultural Phenomenon of the Chinese Youth). Zhongguo Qingnian Chubanshe (China Youth Publishing).
Yang, Ruiqing, ed. 2009. Gongheguo Zhi Lian—Zhongxuanbu Tuijian De 100 Shou Aiguo Gequ (Love to P. R. China—100 Patriotic Songs Recommended by Publicity Department of CCP Central Committee). Anhui Wenyi Chubanshe (Anhui Literature and Art Publishing).
Yin, Qing. 2002. ‘Wei Zhuxuanlv Gequ Cha Shang Mei De Chibang’ (‘Giving the Wings of Beauty to the Main Melody Songs’). Jiefangjun Bao (PLA Daily), July 5, p. 8.
Zhong, Limin, ed. 2009. Zhufu Zuguo: 1949–2009 Zhongguo Youxiu Gequ Jingxuan (Blessing China: A Great Collection of Excellent Chinese Songs). Xiandai Chubanshe (Modern Publishing).
Published
2013-06-06
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Wang, Q. (2013). Red songs and the main melody: cultural nationalism and political propaganda in Chinese popular music. Perfect Beat, 13(2), 127-145. https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v13.i2.127
